Saturday, 1 November 1997 German pianist aims for next rung on ladder of success What: A Piano and Friends recital by pianist Markus Pawlik. When: tomorrow at 2 p.m. Where: Tucson Convention Center Leo Rich Theatre, 260 S. Church Ave. Admission: $10 general, $4 for full-time students. Markus Pawlik will perform tomorrow at the Leo Rich Theatre. By Ken Keuffel Jr. The Arizona Daily Star You've probably never heard of Markus Pawlik. But he's doing his best to change that - and against unbelievable odds. The German pianist, who tomorrow performs at the Leo Rich Theatre, belongs to an ever-increasing pool of talented recitalists for whom just surviving in music is an accomplishment. At 31, Pawlik faces an all-too-typical challenge: how to sustain a career beyond the initial momentum supplied by a couple of big competition wins. It is a daunting task. ``What do you do?'' Pawlik said. ``You try to get as many supporters as possible. It's always up and down.'' Specifically, you (or your management) pester presenters, conductors - anyone with the clout to give you a chance. Maybe, an influential teacher might put a word in for you. Piano and Friends, designed expressly to expose young and emerging talent, routinely relies on recommendations of established pianists such as Russell Sherman, a New England Conservatory professor who taught at the University of Arizona in the 1960s. On Sherman's recommendation, Piano and Friends engaged Tian Ying, a 28-year-old pianist who just received a glowing review in The Boston Globe. And partly on the strength of Ying's 1995 performance in Tucson, he's playing with the Ying String Quartet in an Arizona Friends of Chamber Music concert Nov. 12. (There's no relation, incidentally, between pianist Ying and the Ying siblings in the quartet.) In Pawlik's case, he got the Piano and Friends engagement after calling Jean-Paul Bierny, the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music's president, and sending him a recording. He did the same thing with 20 other presenters in Arizona. What gives here? The field of talented pianists may be crowded, but shouldn't it have narrowed enough to give Pawlik, Ying and others the kind of career security enjoyed by similarly placed professionals in other fields? All wishful thinking. For starters, just winning a competition ``is a big step,'' said Nicholas Zumbro, who teaches piano at the UA. ``But it doesn't guarantee a big career.'' Usually, that ``big step'' consists of cash, concerts and maybe a CD. Before American Jon Nakamatsu won this year's Van Cliburn Competition, for example, he had only managed to book five concerts. He made his living as a private-school German teacher. The Van Cliburn win gives him $20,000, a CD - and at least 120 concerts over the next two years. A similar thing happened to Fazil Say, a Turkish pianist who performed a Piano and Friends concert last year. When he won the 1995 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, he had not played a public concert in two years. Young Concert Artists gave him 60 concerts in America alone. The real trick, once you get competition-generated concerts, is proving you're an artist - and not just a personality-less competition winner. ``Many competition winners don't hold up in the concert hall,'' Pawlik said. But even good playing might not be enough to attract the right combination of publicity, contacts and management. Management agencies, in particular, are loath to take on yet another pianist, especially when they can book engagements for a known quantity. Over the last 10 years, Pawlik reckons, 16,000 pianists entered one of a handful of major international competitions. Of these, 1,000 can call themselves credible professionals, 100 are making a living solely from playing and only about 10 have achieved something like stardom. Pawlik counts himself among the 100. If so, he and his colleagues will be fighting yet another obstacle: a dwindling number of playing opportunities. ``The world of recital performances is an endangered species,'' said Sevon Melikyon, the Van Cliburn Foundation's director of marketing. ``You've fewer and fewer recital series.'' Sherman blames this precarious state of affairs on a poorly educated public. ``Art always asks questions,'' he said. ``Entertainment always answers questions.'' The public, he said, prefers the latter. But can't pianists find teaching jobs at universities and keep performing on the side? Yes, but not without a doctorate, which ``is almost a union card,'' Zumbro said. When combined with a master's degree, doctorates typically mean at least five years of graduate study. Competition is fierce for a college or university teaching position, too: A tenure-track opening at a university music school typically attracts around 150 applicants. ``The number of talented pianists is unbelievable,'' said Sean Schulz, a UA student of Zumbro's. ``Unless you love music, it's a complete waste of time.'' Sherman encourages pianists to find the ``fire in the belly'' to continue, if only because the personal rewards are so great. ``It's so absolutely satisfying,'' he said. ``It always gives us a glimpse of eternity.''